hoi.polloi 4 Jun 15 2010, 10:51 PM wrote:
I thought I would try to inspire a more elaborate answer from the fellow.
Mister Walton,
An associate of mine, Timothy Murphy, referenced your e-mail address during an exploration we are doing of modern forms of semiotics. He was researching the uses of both cigarette symbolism and terrorism symbolism in modern media, and was apparently trying to draw a link between them. The reason I am curious about joining or contributing to that conversation is because my focus in this study is whether modern war linguistics is a result of three phenomena:
1. Design (such as public warnings, service announcements, news stories or in its most extreme form 'propaganda')
2. Accident (no symbolic intentional connection to war except for the unique internal visual lexicon of the modern individual)
3. Borrowed Interest (or better -- borrowed strokes, colors, curves, letters, fonts or other elements of style from established modern war symbols, borrowed war terminology, or even subconscious influence from the public's collective visual language about war)
If you would be so kind as to consider these phenomena in recollecting your design process for the 'No Smoking' ad, it would be of immense benefit to our research. I fully understand if you decide you do not have time for this exercise or cannot provide a deep narrative. Obviously, any inference to others' input on your art - either those close to you, or your inspirations - while you were designing this symbol will strike our curiosity.
Thank you for reading and for any timely response you can provide!
Hoi.Polloi
I like it, because Mr Walton has to
either:
1/
share some interesting aspects of his design process with the sophisticated fellow who's just e mailed him,
Or :
2/
he's got to claim to be really simple and unable to understand this complexity that Hoi must be projecting onto the design.
If he claims 2/ then he didn't really deserve to get the contract. Why would COI commision a bog-standard draughtman?
I know I said I'd leave this alone, but I'm gonna FOI COI about how much money they paid Paul Walton et al. for this - the amount of money should be a good indication of how much guile and sophistication is contained in the sign.